Hamilton man shot multiple times and killed on West Mountain Thursday night
Police have identified the victim as Marko Bakir, 31
A 31-year-old Hamilton man was shot and killed Thursday in what police say appears to be a targeted shooting.
The victim, Marko Bakir, was found lying on the driveway of his West Mountain home by a neighbour. Several residents reported hearing loud bangs that they now believe to have been the shots.
This is the seventh homicide in the city so far this year.
Police were called to 238 Clifton Downs Road, in the area of Lincoln Alexander Parkway and Garth Street, around 8:45 p.m., said Det. Sgt. Steve Bereziuk.
Bereziuk said the neighbour who discovered him saw him when they were leaving their own house.
They rushed over to check on the man, he said, and dialled 911.
Emergency crews tried to save Bakir, but he was pronounced dead on the scene.
Police are waiting for autopsy results, but said in a press release that he had suffered multiple gunshot wounds.
New to the neighbourhood
Bakir had recently purchased the house and was "brand new" to the neighbourhood, Bereziuk said. "It had only been a matter of weeks" that he had moved in.
The man lived alone with two dogs, Bereziuk said, and police believe he had a girlfriend.
The victim's family, also from the Hamilton area, are "devastated," he said.
"They want some answers, obviously, and they have been cooperating with us from the onset," he said.
Bereziuk said the victim had not been on the cops' radar.
I don't think I'll ever forget that sound. -- Lillawattee Rambarran, neighbour
Ghurudeo and Lillawattee Rambarran, who live nearby, said they were watching cricket on television around 8:30 p.m. when they heard what sounded like three gunshots.
But they ignored the sounds, thinking it had to be something else.
"In this neighbourhood, you don't expect that to happen to anybody," said Ghurudeo.
But later in the night they saw emergency vehicle lights outside and realized there must be something wrong — and that their suspicions may have been accurate.
Outside they saw the victim's body on the ground, covered up.
"It's terrible," said Ghurudeo.
"It's not something that you expect to see, or you want to see, or you ever saw before."
"I don't think I'll ever forget that sound," said Lillawattee of the gunshots.
The couple never met the victim, but said they had seen two men around the house, as well as two Rotweillers. He had just moved in this fall, they said.
Learning of the homicide was devastating, said Ghurudeo.
"This is a neighbourhood that everybody knows everybody, everybody looks out for everybody. You wouldn't think something like this can happen."
An 'amazing' man
Friend Stephanie Oliver told CBC in a message that Bakir was an "amazing" man who loved his family, his dogs, food, and travelling.
She also said he "beat the odds" after a major motorcycle crash several years back.
Bakir posted about the incident on his Facebook page back in September, saying that it had been seven years since he "almost lost [his] life." He included photos from his hospital bed, where he was bloodied, bruised and in a neck brace.
News reports from that day say he was sent to hospital in critical condition after his motorcycle collided with a car on the east Mountain.
"Words won't describe how great full I am to be able to type this & not be a memory to all my family and friends," Bakir wrote.
"He truly isn't anyone I thought would see this fate," Oliver said.
Police canvassing for witnesses
Evidence markers were on the driveway Thursday in front of a boat on a trailer and SUV parked there.
Police canvassed the neighbourhood Thursday night and Friday looking for witnesses and video footage. They are appealing to anyone with information to come forward.
Bereziuk said police "don't understand fully why this was a targeted incident."
He said it appears to be isolated with no known connection to any other incident.
Maria Wormsbecker, who lives a few doors down from the scene, has been in the neighbourhood for more than 30 years.
She said a man had only moved into the house last month. She had never spoken to him, and said her husband had just said hello.
News of the homicide came as a "complete shock," said Wormsbecker. She said it's a quiet neighbourhood with many retirees.
"You never expect anything like that in your own neighbourhood," said Wormsbecker.
"You hear about it, but not close to home."